Movie review: As a believable drama, ‘The Mountain Between Us’ crashes and burns

Ed Symkus More Content Now

Wednesday

Oct 4, 2017 at 12:15 PMOct 4, 2017 at 12:15 PM

The title is metaphorical. It has to do with ... no, let’s not go there. The film features a couple of great actors. But ... no, it would be safer to say that they’ve been great at other times. There’s a script by an excellent screenwriter ... hmmm, no, looks like you can’t write a winner every time.

It’s going to be difficult coming up with anything positive about this cliché-ridden, loopily scripted excuse for what’s supposed to be a tense drama about people attempting to scramble their way out of a life-or-death situation, all while keeping viewers concerned about what’s going to happen next.

Chris Weitz, who has had success in writing “About a Boy,” “Cinderella,” and “Rogue One,” misfires on every cylinder handed to him on this one. His script is based on the 2010 “romance novel” by Charles Martin, about a man, a woman, and a dog who survive a plane crash way up in some in snowy mountains, then try to work their way down to safety. Confession: I haven’t read the book, but some typical dialogue in the film includes the guy saying, “Someone’s gonna find us.” Or, how about the woman worrying, “Where are we going?” And the guy answering, “We’re alive, that’s where we’re going.”

Yeah, that’s about as profound as it gets. My disappointment with the actors — Idris Elba and Kate Winslet — can be blamed on two things: The dialogue is inane (but you already know that). And there are long moments of silence, of them and the pilot’s nameless dog (unimportant spoiler: The pilot, played by Beau Bridges, has a stroke five minutes into the film, dies, and, well, you also know what happens to the plane.). The characters, after making their way out of the wreck — he’s in pretty good shape, she’s hobbled by a leg injury — have very little to do but trudge through the snow, not saying much as their food supply dwindles, not even trying to get to know each other.

What DO they tell each other? Well, Alex (Winslet), a photojournalist, was on her way to her own wedding, and Ben (Elba), a neurosurgeon, was on his way to an operation. Unfortunately, not much is revealed about the dog, except that he seems to like romping in the snow.

Since the story needs at least an inkling of drama, some is manufactured. Ben slips and slides on the snow and almost falls off a ridge. Alex and the dog are visited by a hungry, but extraordinarily healthy-looking mountain lion. Now, I’m not going to get into what happens in that scene. But after Season two, Hour 11, of the great TV show “24,” when Jack Bauer’s daughter, Kim, was approached by a mountain lion that just decided to walk away rather than pose any threat to her, there should be a movie and TV law forbidding anymore dumb mountain lion scenes.

There’s some cabin fever (even out in the open) that leads to bickering; it’s revealed that he’s smarter than her, and she’s more impatient than him; we get some philosophical claptrap about the difference between being a neurosurgeon and a heart surgeon; it’s revealed that he’s calmer than her, and she’s more impulsive than him. She keeps starting fights, and he keeps saving her from peril. And then ... some more drama, but only in words and silences: She keeps talking about her husband-to-be, and he keeps avoiding any personal questions.

Very little happens in this movie, then, near the end, too much happens, all at once. It reaches what could have been a decent conclusion, then keeps on going, looking and sounding like we’re in a whole different movie. Worst of all, when the credits run, we still don’t know the dog’s name.

— Ed Symkus writes about movies for More Content Now. He can be reached at esymkus@rcn.com.